Municipal elections were held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on January 1, 1904. Thomas Urquhart was acclaimed to a second term. 1904 was the first time the Toronto Board of Control, the executive committee of Toronto, was directly elected, after the Ontario legislature passed a law requiring municipal boards of control to be chosen through direct election by the municipality's voters. Previously, Toronto City Council chose four alderman to sit on the body, which would be chaired by the mayor.
Toronto mayor
Results
Thomas Urquhart - acclaimed
Source:
Board of Control
Four members of the Toronto Board of Control were directly elected for the first time. Previously, Controllers were four alderman chosen by city council, with Aldermen Loudon, Oliver, Burns and Richardson being appointed to the outgoing Board of Control. Seven of the eight candidates were sitting aldermen: First Ward Alderman Richardson, Second Ward Aldermen Spence and Oliver, Third Ward Alderman Loudon, Fourth Ward Aldermen Burns and Hubbard, Fifth Ward Alderman Starr. The eight candidate, John Shaw, was a former mayor. Several months after the election, Controller Richardson resigned after his election agent was charged with accepting bribes from the Toronto Railway Company, a private streetcar company. Shaw was then elected to the Board of Control in a by-election.
William Peyton Hubbard, whose parents were slaves who had fled to Toronto through the Underground Railroad, was the first person of colour to be elected to Toronto City Council and was one of the first Black people to be elected to any office in Canada. As of 2020, he is the only person of colour to be elected to city-wide office in Toronto.
Results
Frank S. Spence - 12,294
John F. Loudon - 11,121
William Peyton Hubbard - 8,950
Fred H. Richardson - 8,923
William Burns - 8,641
James Russell Lovett Starr - 8,639
Joseph Oliver - 8,598
John Shaw - 7,184
Source:
Plebiscites
A plebiscite was held on a by-law granting $50,000 towards the creation of a sanatorium for the prevention and treatment of tuberculosis. Sanatorium by-law For - 4,131 Against - 3,681 Source:
City council
Three aldermen were elected to Toronto City Council per ward. This was reduced from four aldermen per ward, previously.
First Ward (Riverdale) Daniel Chisholm (incumbent) - 1,347 William Temple Stewart (incumbent) - 1,211 Robert Fleming (incumbent) - 1,163 James Wilson - 749 John Preston - 530
Second Ward (Cabbagetown and Rosedale) Emerson Coatsworth - 1,845 Dr. John Noble (incumbent) - 1,362 Thomas Foster (incumbent) - 1,358 David Carlyle - 1,136 Edward Strachan Cox - 984 John W. Mogan - 800 W.A. Douglass - 707
Third Ward (Central Business District and The Ward) Joseph George Ramsden (incumbent) - 2,191 Oliver Barton Sheppard (incumbent) - 2,098 George Reginald Geary - 1,716 George McMurrich - 1,604 Arthur Callow - 432
Fourth Ward (Spadina) James Crane - 1,857 Stephen Alfred Jones - 1,850 Dr. William S. Harrison (incumbent) - 1,829 Stephen Wellesley Burns - 1,549 Robert Crawford Vaughan - 1,535 Edward James Hearn - 802 Albert Edward Hacker - 546 Charles Hambly - 230 Edmund Schilling - 105
Fifth Ward (Trinity-Bellwoods) Frank Woods (incumbent) - 2,039 William Bell (incumbent) - 1,576 John Dunn (incumbent) - 1,511 John Bell Hay - 1,246 Alexander Stewart - 1,067 Peter Whytock - 1,003 Wellington O. McTaggart - 510 David Clark - 244
Sixth Ward (Brockton and Parkdale) Jonn Joseph Ward (incumbent) - 1,581 James Henry McGhie (incumbent) - 1,446 John James Graham (incumbent) - 1,340 Dr. Adam Lynd (incumbent) - 1,219 Samuel Scott - 752